Why too many universities are missing in action when it comes to social mobility impact

Universities have the power to turbo-charge social mobility in the communities they reach.

In fact, given the UK’s dire social mobility record, they have a responsibility to do so.

They can connect up people from disadvantaged backgrounds into careers that enable them to truly fulfil their potential; and bridge the gap between untapped talent and the country’s unevenly spread opportunities.

Yet some higher education providers who could be at the forefront are failing to rise to the social mobility challenge.

Research shows that young people from affluent areas are six times more likely to secure a place at one of the most selective universities. I discussed this on Sky News recently. 

A report published recently by higher education watchdog the Office for Students has highlighted an “access gap” between more affluent and disadvantaged students.

It warns that although the overall number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds at the most selective universities is rising in response to efforts by those institutions, proportionally things have "hardly changed". 

It means that in spite of the efforts, there has not been enough progress. And we should remember that those efforts to widen participation aren’t just about the inputs, they were ultimately with a result and outcomes in mind. 

As the report also says, universities must look at the wider potential of a candidate beyond purely the results of public examinations. This implicitly recognises that in a school system with state and private schools, where the latter spend around three times as much on a student’s education, and where there remains diversity in school standards, exam grades will always have an element of being a rear view mirror on where a potential student has come from rather than a forward indicator of where they can get to. So for universities to look solely at grades is a blunt tool, like comparing apples with pears.

The report mirrors some of the findings of the 2017 Department of Education paper, Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential, published during my time as education secretary.

This also showed that young people from less advantaged backgrounds are less likely to enter high quality universities.

Contextual recruitment - factoring in the applicant’s circumstances and the potential impact on their grades - is encouragingly on the rise. Foundation years also help to ensure that shortcomings earlier in education don’t outweigh the underlying ability of a potential student to be successful.

But there is much more that can get Britain’s elite universities firing on all cylinders in terms of social mobility. 

Through the Social Mobility Pledge, I’ve visited several universities in recent months, which are providing clear pathways to success for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A sophisticated contextual recruitment process is just one of many measures they have implemented to maximise their impact.

Others include intervening earlier in the lives of disadvantaged young people from families in which no-one has ever been to university. Not just visiting secondary but also primary schools, talking to parents about a child’s prospects not just for the academic year ahead, but for a life ahead.

By engaging children and young people in the possibilities of higher education, long before they reach enrolment age, they are shifting their career trajectory and increasing their chances of fulfilling their potential.

Equally important are the support networks and tracking that institutions can put in place once new students arrive at university to ensure people from disadvantaged backgrounds, once enrolled, are able to complete their degree courses regardless of the challenges in their lives.  

It’s crucial that universities have a joined-up approach. It’s ineffective to do a series of well intentioned ad hoc efforts upstream in schools and colleges if ultimately the key that opens the door to an offer is still just based on exam grades so that it inevitably discriminates against students from poorer backgrounds and worst schools. It also potentially means HE institutions looking beyond the grades and UCAS points on A levels that have no bearing on the course that a would-be student has applied to do. For example, should a weak grade on a History A-level really get in the way of a student who wants to study Physics if it more reflects bad A level subject advice more than anything else? Should it so significantly cascade through the rest of a young person’s time in education?

The elite universities will only thrive if they can properly identify potential and then make themselves institutions that can unlock that potential - whatever that young person’s starting point. 

It’s welcome that a number of universities are now bucking the trend to focus on contextual offers. Anecdotally many are very positive not only about the impact that approach has for the students but also for their institutions.

The irony is that for all the preoccupation of universities on UCAS points and A-level grades, the employers that the Social Mobility Pledge is working with are increasingly more concerned about a wider set of strengths a future candidate has. In fact a growing number don’t even look at A level grades or the University degree level. Elite universities should learn from these organisations that have successfully developed approaches that identify potential.

The path a disadvantaged person takes from entering university to finding a well-paying graduate job is far more transformational than that of an elite school leaver progressing into their chosen graduate career. There is some evidence from employers that they see how the journey such an initially disadvantaged person goes on, develops their resilience and wider strengths in a way that many businesses value. These are the people they look for. And they will equally target those universities that can demonstrably take that potential and develop it further.

So in the end, here’s the rub for those universities who remain in their ivory towers: the world of careers is already moving on. If you don’t introduce better approaches to identify potential, then you simply leave the field clear to other universities that already do. They’ll be the places that employers will steadily tilt their opportunities towards.

The next step now is for smarter metrics - the ability of a university to be an institution developing potential - to also be better factored into the league tables on which universities are judged. Assessing progress as well as attainment has been done in the school system for several years. It’s time for us to judge our higher education system through a simple lens: let’s credit the institutions which turbo-charge social mobility, close gaps and level up Britain and are therefore part of the solution. 

Because those are the universities that will ultimately help Britain’s people, businesses and our economy thrive. 

Rt Hon Justine Greening

Founder of the Social Mobility Pledge

Former Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities, Secretary of State for International Development, Secretary of State for Transport, Economic Secretary to the Treasury